When I was teaching about agriculture, food and diet, I often used the same mantra many nutritionists use today – ‘We are what we eat.’ When we input junk data into a computer, we are not surprised that the output is junk. We are infinitely more complex than a computer program, but the same concept applies. We evolved in a natural environment where food was obtained from a fully intact ecosystem with all its trophic systems also intact. And as importantly, our body’s microbiome evolved its symbiotic relationship with the soil biomes from where we obtained not only the complex array of nutrients we needed, but also the turnover of microflora that helped us remain healthy and retain robust immune systems. I didn’t start out to make this week’s post a downer, but there are some reality checks that we must accept if we are to start making decisions, yes, all of us making decisions, about saving humanity.
It’s not that we didn’t get sick in the past or acquire parasites, rather if we survived early childhood diseases our immune systems were much more capable of combating these problems. Modern medicine has helped us immensely with combating disease and parasites. After all, infections were once the main cause of death. After the introduction of antibiotics in WWII, infectious deaths were greatly reduced; however, decades of overuse and misuse of antibiotics have now led to infectious death rising again as infectious diseases become more and more resistant to these drugs. And to add to the problem, our immune systems have never been as compromised as they now are from weakened immune systems and ravaged body microbiomes.
Our bodies are metabolic factories that process nutrients for both energy and the transformation of the many chemical building blocks we need to function every second. Our bodies really are miraculous biological systems, yet humanity in its hubris, has developed technologies that have been creating tens of thousands of chemicals we ingest, inhale, or absorb into our systems. And we act oblivious of the fact that we do not have metabolic processes to deal with most of these chemicals. Quite often our bodies simple eliminate chemicals they cannot process. But all too often, these chemicals, especially if they enter the body over a long period, even in micro amounts, lodge in the fat tissues and body organs where they wreak metabolic havoc – disease. And while you can live in ‘better’ areas with less exposure to water and airborne pollutants, you cannot go anywhere on the planet to avoid pollution.
Then add to pollution the continual ingestion of chemicals and toxins from our global food system and you start to realize that simple having ‘greener’ technologies is not going to resolve global ecological problems. One of the biggest problems with globalization is the homogenization of all the technological systems that run our societies. Even the developing world is now acquiring the poor living choices that create poor health conditions. Yet while the developed world usually has better sanitary conditions that allowed them to initially flourish, the developing world often still lacks decent sanitation facilities and clean water as their populations grow in increasingly higher density urban environments, thereby increasing disease conditions.
The separation of top disease conditions between the developed and developing world has changed such that globalization has also homogenized the diseases everyone has; the western diet and lifestyle is now so prevalent that nearly everyone suffers from it. And the poorer countries with their reduced sanitation systems and reduced access to food suffer even more (from infectious diseases and food insufficiency).
When you factor in all the Military, Big Parma, Big Food, Industrial Complex economic control it should not be a surprise that we suffer from so many health and social problems. The big change and solution starts with us making choices for our own sovereign individuality. Then working with our family and friends and neighbors to all make sovereign choices that build real community. I’ve said this so many times.
Globalization of unhealthy lifestyles, the rise of fast and processed food, sedentary lifestyles and complacency in allowing external factors to control us has contributed to the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases; such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes, cancer, different respiratory problems, increases of food allergies, gut problems indicating severe microbiome problems, and curiously, increased dementia related problems. As a biochemist in a past career, the signs to me of environmental insults to our bodies from wisdom-lacking inappropriate modern technology and lifestyle is obvious.
Then add to that, global ecological problems like climate change that impacts air quality, water availability, and food security, it should not be a surprise that our modern belief systems, in a way of living, have impacted ecological health thereby impacting the health of all life. The rise of urbanization (more than half of humanity now lives in densely populated areas) presents both opportunities and challenges for public health. And that is compounded by inequity across the board creating health, social and economic disparities on factors such as income, education, race, and geography.
We keep trying to solve our global problems from a hierarchical perspective. That is to try and embrace all the problems as solvable from a global solution. The biggest creator of our global problems is our global economic market economy that also keeps us focused on market economic solutions. As I have also said often, even if they wanted to solve our global problems, they can’t because they are as trapped by a failed economic system as we are. Only the 0.001% of the planets most monetarily wealthy could weather the coming ‘storms’ for the near future, but in the long term, even they will have to transform to thrive.
It’s the belief that resolving our problems, globally and technologically, will resolve our problems locally and personally. Instead, switch that around and consider how your personal choices can expand your ability to thrive with each individual contributing to create the global solutions. We transform when we accept that what is happening might be driven from the hierarchical level but how we are complicit in this dystopian system with all our decisions. This is not to put blame on anyone, but to emphasize that if you want to change the external, then you have to first change the internal.
I really did get out of the wrong side of the bed this morning in typing this blog. I was supposed to be talking about ways to re-condition soil and get control of our food systems back into our hands to generate health and ways to thrive locally.
Even an optimist like myself can have days feeling despondent when I see so much that needs OUR actions to correct. And yet even with so many awakened souls, there are still so many that are easily distracted by mass media that acts as if politicians bickering are all that matters, and that our ‘sides’ opinions’ are better than their ‘sides’ opinions. We end up acting judgmentally with fear and derision instead of acting for the greater good. Humanity is so much better than that. Let me end this week’s blog post with a plea to reach inside to our loving, compassionate, and responsible wise selves and a desire to do better. As often said, “There is no Superman or perfect leader coming to help us; We are the ones we are waiting for!” As the Beatle sang in 1967, “All We Need is Love.’
In keeping with the dark nature of this week’s post, please consider viewing the linked short animated video ‘In-Shadow’ of the problem and empowerment, by YouTube artist Lubomir Arsov. He is dark, but intriguingly on point.
To Be Continued (in a more positive light)……………..
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